Heart of Glass
by BEWAREtheBEAR4655
Summary: After Elle's departure from the BAU, Hotch heads to NYC to find a replacement. Over the course of five years, she becomes a vital part in the team, as well as Morgan's life. Set back and forth between 2006 and 2011. MorganOC
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **Totally new to the Criminal Minds section of this site. This idea has been plaguing my mind for a few days now, so here we go. Kind of short, but I think if I keep chapters around this length, I'll get quicker updates out.

**Disclaimer:** I do not, in any way, own Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do, however, own Gabrielle Helena del Zotto, and the del Zotto family.

**Heart of Glass**

Smile  
tho' your heart is aching,  
Smile  
Even though it's breaking,  
When there are clouds in the sky- You'll get by,  
If you  
Smile through your fear and sorrow,  
Smile and maybe tomorrow  
You'll see the sun come shining through- For you  
Light up your face with gladness,  
Hide ev'ry trace of sadness,  
Altho' a tear may be ever so near,  
That's the time you must keep on trying,  
Smile- What's the use of crying,  
You'll find that life is still worthwhile,  
If you just smile.

"Smile" Charlie Chaplin

_November 2011_

Placing her palms down on the tiled countertops, Gabrielle del Zotto glanced at her reflection in the mirror. From the loose chestnut brown tendrils framing her face, they were pieces of her long locks that slipped out of the hair clip blended into her hair. To her pale, make-up free face, complete with a handful of dark brown freckles adorning the soft skin. The diamond stud pierced through her nose sparkled in the overhead lighting whenever she moved.

The dim green eyes staring back at her startled her for a moment, until she recognized them as her own. Two eyes who used to hold such a vibrant color seemed burned out, almost dead now. Eyes she gazed so lovingly at her husband with never caught the same happiness anymore.

As she slowly ran her hand over her expanding waistline, the potential of a smile etched across her lips. Her pursed lips slowly started to trek upwards. Hope glimmered in her eyes, though a tear slid down her porcelain cheek.

Upon hearing the bathroom door click open, she turned her head to take a slight glance over her shoulder. As he stepped behind her and protectively wrapped his arms around her growing waist, she took a deep breath and eased into his embrace.

"Hi," she whispered as his fingers crept onto her stomach.

His perfect smile reflected in the mirror over her shoulder. "Hey pretty girl," he replied, all while resting his head on her shoulder. "What'cha up to, momma?" Derek Morgan asked.

Her eyes left his face, and traveled down to where his fingers were rubbing back and forth over her t-shirt. "Just thinking," she answered.

"About anything in particular?"

He nuzzled the side of his face into her bare neck, causing goose-bumps to cross her arms at the tingle his stubble caused. "Everything, I guess." He took note of the somber mood she seemed to be in. "You stink, though, babe," she explained, a slight smirk taking residence on her soft pink lips. When he just shrugged, she placed her left hand atop his on her stomach. "How was class?"

Morgan had been against teaching his self-defense class that day when Brie practically drifted through the day at work. With no on-going cases, they took the day to catch up on the ever-growing stacks of paperwork taking up their desks. "Same old, same old. But don't try to change the subject on me. What's goin' on in that head of yours?" he asked, true concern coating his words.

Her raspy voice floated through the bathroom, "Just thinking about how we got to where we are. Marriage. A baby," she stated, though the last sentence barely seemed happy. "I know we didn't plan for a baby this soon, but," the brunette paused, catching her husbands gaze in the mirror. As she choked back sobs that fought desperately to escape her lips, Morgan kissed her shoulder before standing up straight behind her.

Carefully he turned her to face him, though her downcast eyes brought a frown to his face. "Hey," he coaxed, trying his best to get his wife to look up. "I know it's hell right now, baby, but everything will get sorted out." He noticed her swallowing the lump in her throat, and she concentrated on the white tile gracing the floor. "This is not a matter of whether or not that's my baby. I will love that child, and their momma no matter what," he stated.

The conviction in his voice almost brought her to a breakdown. Licking her suddenly dry lips, her hands caught onto his t-shirt as she placed her forehead to his chest and let a few silent tears slip out. "I'm so sorry, Derek."

"Brie," the taller brunette began, "this is in no way your fault at all. You hear me?"

She slowly nodded against his firm chest, though the confirmation did nothing to cease the tears leaving her eyes.

"What he did to you, baby," Morgan began, only to lick his own lips and take a deep breath to keep himself in check, "you did not deserve that."

She slowly backed out of his embrace, though his large hand rested on her hip. "Neither did those girls," she stated. He nodded.

With his other hand, he placed it to the side of her cheek and brushed away lingering tears with his thumb pad. "And there's always a very good chance that's my baby." Brie exhaled the deep breath she didn't realize she was holding and looked up into her husbands deep brown eyes. As his thumb resting on her hip bone - covered only in her t-shirt, due to her wearing a pair of Morgan's sweatpants, which sat very low on her hips - rubbed in a circular pattern, she felt herself easing into his touch.

"I know that, D, but it's just," she struggled with the right word to use, "tough. I want to believe whole-heartedly that this child is yours, in blood, but the pessimist in me is making me think about everything." Gabrielle paused long enough to try to read Morgan's expression. "It's just," she started, as a new batch of tears began their descent down her face, "it's really hard sometimes to stay positive."

As she nibbled on her lower lip, Morgan desperately searched for the right words to say to her. "I will be right here, every single step of the way, baby. You know that. Whenever you need me, I'm here." He began brushing away the new tears. "I'm not goin' anywhere, pretty girl."

Her lips turned up at the nickname he started using close to five years earlier. Running a hand over his cheek, she couldn't contain a full-blown smile any longer. "I don't know what I did to deserve you, Derek Elijah Morgan. But I'd do whatever it was all over again."

He smirked in her direction before placing his lips to her forehead. She closed her eyes on contact, to relish the several moments his lips lingered on her skin.

The truth was, when she first found out she was pregnant, it seemed like the light at the end of a very, very dark tunnel. After being held captive for four days, and raped several times in that time span just a month and a half earlier, she smiled for the first time when she saw the results of her first at-home test.

Morgan was the one who brought up the possibility of George Turner being the father. He had struggled with the idea for almost a week before bringing the topic up to his wife. Derek could still remember they had been in the living room of their apartment, and she was updating the collection of photographs on the wall with her nephew's new school photo.

The old frame slipped from her fingertips as Derek told her what he had been thinking and shattered at her feet. As blood slowly rose to her skin through a few shallow lacerations on her calves and ankles, her body rocked with sobs. Morgan rushed to her side and swallowed her up into his arms. He could remember how tightly she wrapped her arms around his neck and wept.

The thought had crossed her mind in a fleeting glance before, but it wasn't until it was spoken out loud that she broke down.

"We're a team, Gabs. Forever, baby. That's what we've got here," he stated as he ran his fingertips over her stomach. "The three of us." She fought to smile through her tears. "Whatever happens, Brie. Either way, no one can take that child away from me."

She nodded.

He pecked her pale skin again. "He's never coming back. He'll never hurt you ever again, baby. I promise you that."

Gabrielle nodded again. As if on instinct, she remembered watching Derek fire two shots into Turner's chest through half closed eyes from the cold cement. Every time it replayed in her mind, it was slow motion, causing her to see each bullet enter and his body buck backwards at impact.

She never expected a marriage and children to come from a quick work friendship, but she'd be lying if she said she wasn't happy about it. In her mind, Derek Morgan was the best thing that ever happened to her.

The brunette had only admitted it to JJ, but she worried that if this child was fathered by George Turner, she didn't know if she was capable of loving her baby. Deep down, she knew, that no matter what, she would always love him or her, but she didn't want to remember the abuse she endured every time she looked into her child's eyes.

Hoping that in three months she would be gazing into soulful brown eyes like her husbands when she saw her baby for the first time got her through the darker moments. Knowing that no matter what, the three of them would be a family, made everything worth while to Brie. That no matter what, Derek Morgan still loved her as much that day as the first time he told her he loved her. As much as the day he popped the question. As much as their wedding day. And as much as every single time he told her after she had been rescued.

When he pulled her frail body to his, and showered her with kisses and reminders that he loved her so much. To every moment he spent at her bedside for days afterwards.

She knew she was his for the rest of her life, and the smile that came with that knowledge was overpowering.

xXx


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** This is slight crossover with CSI:NY. Just a little here and there, so you don't really need to watch that show, or know what's going on there. Just using some people, places, etc.

**Disclaimer:** I do not, in any way, own Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do, however, own Gabrielle Helena del Zotto, and the del Zotto family. I also do not own CSI:NY or any of their characters.

**Heart of Glass**

Go make the best of everything you want to be  
With ambition pushing forward  
Your dreams upon your shoulders

Though impossible it seems  
It's time to just believe  
From here on out you're just getting older  
Pick up yourself you keep getting closer

Let's just get it started tonight  
All you've ever wanted its in your eyes  
Just let it take you where you want to go  
Just let it tell you what you want to know

You've got your destination  
Progress has now been made and you  
Will see the way you've wanted it to be

"We've Only Just Begun" Run Kid Run

_November 2006_

Glancing up from the paperwork cluttering her desk, Gabrielle caught sight of SSA Aaron Hotchner in her doorway. A tight lipped smile crossed over her features as she pushed her hair back behind her ears before standing up.

She walked across the room to open the glass door. "Nice to see you again, Agent Hotchner," the brunette offered as she stuck her petite hand out for the FBI Agent.

"Same to you, Detective del Zotto," he answered, shaking her hand in the process. "May I come in?" Hotch asked, gesturing to her office in the NYPD Crime Lab.

Brie nodded. "Of course." Stepping back from the door, she pulled her partner's chair next to her desk to converse with Hotch. "You sounded pretty urgent on the phone. What can I do for you?"

"Since our last conversation, you expressed interest in joining the Bureau," he began, all of which she nodded to. "And the last I heard about you was that you concluded your training in Quantico."

She agreed. "I did, so if the occasion ever arose to join the FBI, I have everything all set. I'm just here in the NYPD until that time comes."

Hotch pursed his lips and placed his joined hands in his lap. "It has, Gabrielle. That's why I'm here." Brie slipped her bangs back behind her ear and hoped she was coming off as calm on the outside, though on the inside her heart rate increased. "Under circumstances I can't go into with you, we have an opening on the team. You were the first person in mind to take over."

She nibbled on the inside of her lip and thought about the offer. The FBI was where she always wanted to be. The NYPD, as much as she loved being a part of it, and working with such amazing people, was not challenging enough for her. Since working with the BAU two years before on a case in New York City, she knew that's where she really belonged. When she spoke to her co-workers about wanting to move onto the FBI, she never said anything about the BAU, knowing that as much as they loved her, they believed in tough love, and would tell her she wouldn't beat out everyone else in the country who wanted to join that specific team.

"That is if you are willing to leave the NYPD," Hotch said, noticing the lapse in conversation. "I wanted to offer the position to you before anyone else. I didn't know whether or not you changed your mind about leaving the NYPD within the last six months."

Brie slowly raised her hand to quiet Hotch. "I'd be honored to be a part of your team, Agent Hotchner," the brunette answered. She beamed from ear to ear. "Since working with your team a few years ago, all I've thought about was being a member of the BAU," Brie admitted.

Hotch smirked. "Then welcome to the BAU, Gabrielle," he offered as he stuck out his hand for her to shake. "Let me know when everything is settled here and we can get you started in Quantico."

"Thank you," she offered and watched the older man stand up from his seat. She followed suit and led him to the door. "I'll let you know as soon as my departure from the NYPD is official."

He nodded. "I hope to hear from you soon, Detective del Zotto."

"Definitely," she agreed as Hotch stepped away from the door. Taking in the sight of the Crime Lab around her, Brie wrapped her arms around her body and nibbled on the inside of her lip.

Truth be told, she loved working with the NYPD. Growing up in New Jersey led to the brunette visiting the city with her two older brothers frequently. She started her career in law enforcement in Trenton, New Jersey, but moved to New York City soon after Nine Eleven.

But when the BAU entered her life, she changed her mind on thinking the NYPD was the best she would do in her professional life. Her mind was made up, and she would stop at nothing to make it to the FBI. Mainly the Behavioral Analysis Unit.

Granted, she was hesitant to leave the close friends she had made since moving to New York, but she knew they would understand. Her biggest hesitation was the distance between Quantico and her family in New York and New Jersey.

She had always been extremely close to her family. The bond between her and her two older brothers, Sebastian and Julian only grew after their parents divorce, and their father's second marriage. Brie was only eight at the time of the divorce, Sebastian was twelve and Julian had just turned nine, but the three stuck together.

Seb and Julian were taught to watch out for their little sister, no matter what. When time came, Gabrielle spent several nights studying for her classes at NYU camped out in Julian's cluttered downtown NYC apartment while he worked for the FDNY.

The green-eyed brunette remembered her twenty-first birthday fondly. The boys had been planning it since she was eighteen, and when October 30th 1997 finally came around, the two were looking forward to seeing what their little sister was made of, alcohol intake wise. She could remember several times since that day when the three of them could be found at a sports bar in town, catching up on what was happening in their lives once their careers began to take up most of their time and relationships stole their free time.

Her brothers were the first ones she even brought up the dream of joining the BAU to. They were amazing in the fact that they never discouraged her from following that dream, but were sure to warn her that she just might not make it. And whether or not she did, they would still love her to the ends of the Earth. They always left her with a reminder of however old she got, they'd still be her big brothers, and they'd still take care of her.

Shortly after their father remarried, two more boys joined the del Zotto family over the course of two and a half years. Brie was just glad that Collin and Jarred were now the babies of the family, rather than her.

Last, but not least in her mind was her current boyfriend. As she smiled at a framed photo on her desk of the two of them, Brie let out a deep sigh. If he loved her half as much as he claimed he did, he would understand she wanted to move up in their field of work, and in her mind that meant the FBI. He most certainly wasn't looking at a happily ever after for the two of them, so she really saw no reason to not take the job in Virginia.

Running an acrylic nail over her cell phone sitting atop a case file on her desk, she hesitated in picking the device up. With her boyfriend's cell phone number typed in, and the send button hit, she placed the phone to her ear. "Hey, it's just me," she began, all while keeping her eyes locked on the framed photo. "I've been invited to join the Bureau." Listening to the commotion on the other side of the phone only made her smile grow. "I thought I should let you know the news first," Gabrielle began, before taking a deep breath. "I'm taking the job with the BAU."

xXx


End file.
